Transcending Lifetimes
by Antaeos
Summary: Contrary to popular belief, Amon did not start the Equalist movement, he merely made it far more known. A disgraced general, stripped of his bending years ago by Avatar Aang now has the opportunity for revenge...or redemption. A little story that I'm writing involing my OC character that will sort of act as a bridge between the Legends of Aang and Korra.
1. Chapter 1: Memories

"You should stop this nonsense, my friend." The old man said as he considered his next move on the pi sho board. "I can only do so much to protect you." The twenty-five year old man sitting across from Avatar Aang was an idealist with a genius-level intellect and a charismatic attitude. He was also someone who had experienced more betrayal and witnessed more injustice than almost anyone his age.

Kohun had started what he coined the" Equalist Movement" about a year and a half ago. Originally it was nothing more than non-benders getting together and complaining about discrimination over a few beers, but in a short time Kohun had created a political force that had moved on to activism and protests, some of which had even gone to the extreme.

Kohun only rolled his eyes at the Avatar. "Aang, I know you are only doing what you think is right, but non-benders deserve to be respected. My methods of getting public attention may be… unorthodox, but they are non-violent.".

Aang smiled at his young friend's excuses, a wise glint manifesting in his eyes. "This 'Equalist' movement of yours is bound to be taken further by someone. The fact that you only bomb empty buildings and empty ships hardly makes me feel any better. You're playing with forces that are beyond your control."

The brown-haired young man couldn't help but chuckle. "They said that when I became a general at the age of twenty-one. I certainly showed them. The only thing that stopped me was you and your damned Fire Lord." Kohun recalled just a few years ago when the Avatar had been his sworn enemy. Almost three years ago. The Fire Nation colonies in the Southern Water Tribe had wanted to become an independent nation, much to the disapproval of the Fire Nation. Kohun had led their rag-tag army to several victories against the Fire Lord's generals. Eventually, the Avatar was summoned to resolve the conflict and end the rebellion. Fearing for themselves, the rebel politicians had quickly betrayed their generals and surrendered, handing their betrayed people over to a vengeful Fire Nation.

Aang decided not to dwell on the past and shifted the conversation back to the immediate issue. "Need I remind you that you only really sympathize with the non-benders because I took away your firebending?" Kohun sighed, a bit of a sad recollection forming in his amber eyes as he moved one of his pi sho tiles. He was forced to surrender his bending as a part of his people's admission of defeat in the war. "Woe to the vanquished" tended to come into Kohun's thoughts when he remembered those terms of surrender.

"I accepted my fate fairly well for being such a gifted firebender. And although that may be the main reason for my empathy it doesn't make my point any less valid." Kohun had adjusted to a non-bending life rather well, but he still found it a great injustice that non-benders were trampled on the way they were. "Benders need to learn how to fight back."

"And destroying food shipments to Republic City is fighting back, hmm?" Aang wisely rebuked his adversary as he captured one of his pi sho pieces. He had learned to respect Kohun and his good intentions, but the young man had a habit of utilizing the wrong means for the right ends. After a long silence from his young friend Aang sighed, deciding that the tiring matter would not be settled today. "One day you won't have me to shelter you from the law."

Kohun raised an eyebrow. "You're the Avatar, chances are that you'll outlive me." He grinned as he confidently made a move on the game board. "But you'll still have to try harder than that to beat me at pi sho." Aang suddenly made a confounded scoff as he took a double take of the board. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he realized he'd been beat. "Was never really my kind of game, anyway." He commented. The two friends joined in laughter, each of them thoroughly enjoying the other's company.

* * *

Kohun sat leisurely in the canoe with his friend, Tonraq. The two of them had known each other since they were kids, Kohun's father having long ago moved to the South pole as an emissary to the Water Tribe. Tonraq had been one of the first people to greet the outsider to his village all those years ago, and since then their friendship had always been a strong one.

Even after years at war, Tonraq greeted his firebender friend the moment he returned home defeated. Tonraq had remained friends with the disgraced general, loyally remaining his most trusted friend. The two would often go on fishing trips together, lazily enjoying the sight of the icy blue water and talking about anything that they could conjure up. Today, however, seemed to be more quiet than usual.

"Hey, Kohun." Tonraq said, his calm voice cutting through the silence.

"Yeah?"

"What's going on?"

Kohun turned away from his stare out over the icy ocean and looked towards his friend with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?" Tonraq just chuckled.

"You're making that face."

Kohun rolled his eyes. Everyone called it "The Angry Face". Whenever Kohun was in deep thought, his brow always knitted and his face became cold and stern. He tended to grow aggravated whenever he had to explain to people that he wasn't mad at anything, he was just pondering something. Needless to say he wasn't very good at hiding it whenever he had something weighing on his mind.

"It's nothing, really." Kohun lied.

Tonraq couldn't help but laugh as it dawned on him as to what the problem must be. "It's her, isn't it?" His suspicions were quickly confirmed as Kohun let out a long groan of annoyance. "So what if it is, huh?"

"Her dad still says no?" Tonraq knew the answer. Her father hated firebenders, even one's that couldn't bend anymore. Southern Water Tribe custom required the father's permission to take his daughter in marriage. It wasn't required everywhere, it just happened to be the parents of Kohun's dream girl that were old-fashioned.

"Don't worry, Kohun." Tonraq reassured his friend. "She's a great girl and her dad's just nervous about giving her up to the right guy."

"Easy for you to say. You've always got a girl in your pocket." Kohun retorted.

Tonraq stood up in the canoe and stretched confidently. "What can I say? I'm just good at getting the ladies."

"Are you good at swimming?" Kohun rhetorically inquired. Before his friend could respond, Kohun kicked Tonraq into the water. "I know I'm good at having a sick sense of humor."

* * *

"You left me a note?"

Kohun froze at the sound of her voice, standing over his half-packed travelling bags. "I didn't want to have to explain…"

"Explain what?" She interrupted. "That you kept up your 'Equalist' plots even after you promised me you'd stop? That you now have to abandon me and the baby because of your non-bender equality bullshit? How could you do this to us?" Her voice began to crack as she uttered that last phrase, her blue-grey eyes welling up with tears.

Kohun's heart wrenched as he watched the girl he loved suffer. He closed the distance between them and quickly embraced her in a hug. "I'm sorry, I was wrong to leave you like this. I should've at least told you in person." He placed a kiss on the crown of her head, cradling her sobbing form in his arms. He couldn't figure out how long he'd stood there, holding the love of his life as she quivered, her body shaking as she wept. It seemed like an eternity before her sorrow began to soften.

He looked down and tenderly placed a finger under her chin, lifting it up and wiping the tears from her cheeks. "Please understand that I'm doing this for both you and the baby. Avatar Aang is on his deathbed and it won't be long before they come looking for me. You're the light of my life and I can't let my mistakes ruin your chances at happiness."

Kohun always felt confident; he never second guessed his logic. For some reason, though, he couldn't help but feel like he was doing the wrong thing. "If I stay, the authorities will find me. They'll take me away and then you'll be left as the filthy wife of a terrorist and my child will be the unwanted offspring of a fanatic. If I leave, you can avoid all of that. I've done wrong by you, my love. But if by doing this one last wrong I can give you a better life, I'll do it without a second thought."

Kohun did his best to calm the love of his life as she weakly protested, holding her in his arms until all she could do was softly weep into his chest.

* * *

The General lurched up in his bed, sweat beading on his forehead as he awoke to the sound of banging on the hard iron door. He sighed slowly as he wiped off his brow and calmed himself, his heart pounding in his chest from the dreams he was having. "Seventeen years." He muttered to himself. "Seventeen years and now I start having nightmares about it."

"Breakfast, General." The guard said, sliding a tray of food through the slit in the door.

General Kohun smiled, walking over towards the tray and picking it up. Seven years and prison had almost become comfortable to him. Then again, he had his own personal cell complete with a desk, a phonograph, and a full bookshelf.

Two books a day and a full workout, he thought to himself. Got to stay in shape, mind and body.

With a feeling of routine muscle memory he instinctively reached out, grabbing a classical music record that was a favorite of his. He casually placed it onto the turntable of the phonograph and switched it on, placing the needle onto the record and grabbing a book from his shelf as intensely dramatic music flooded the metal cell and reverberated off of the walls.

He read the title of the book he had grabbed. _The Art of Chi Blocking_, a book he had read countless times. "Nah." He grumbled. He haphazardly seized another novel. _Chakras and You_, a good book for meditating and contemplation. "That'll do nicely." Kohun said to himself, setting it down on the table and preparing to eat his wonderfully bland prison eggs.

Then it caught his eye, a note that had been placed on the tray. They didn't allow any official postage into the prison without reading it first, but the seal on this envelope was completely untouched. He immediately understood why as he caught sight of the Equalist insignia almost microscopically placed on the bottom corner of the envelope. Kohun snatched up the letter and broke the seal in one fluid motion. He unfolded the paper unsure of what to think. "My old second-in-command needs help does he?" The General chuckled at the irony of the man who betrayed him begging for his assistance.

Kohun's amusement quickly faded, however, as he read the message from Amon.

_The new Avatar has proven to be of more difficulty than I had originally anticipated. In an act of humility I humbly request that you lend your hand in bringing the Avatar to justice. I know that you do not believe in the relinquishing of anyone's bending, but I can assure you that your efforts will be made worth your while. I am well aware of your ability to escape your confinement, old friend. The only reason you have never attempted to escape is because you feel that no one will be out in the world to be there when you see sunlight again. If you assist me in bringing the Avatar down, I can reunite you with your daughter._

The last sentence bore into his chest deeper than any knife could go. Kohun slumped back into his chair, his mind racing as he began to ask himself one big question: How much was the Avatar really worth?


	2. Chapter 2: Breakout

It had been almost two weeks since the defeat of the Equalists and Amon's death. The same day that the news arrived, the warden began to receive reports from the guards the General had been growing more irritable and had even begun throwing things at them during meal times. "He's an ex-Equalist who's been in solitary for seven years." The warden had observed. "No doubt he's just angry because of the news." He sent a guard down to give his most valued prisoner some time in the yard.

The guard slowly opened the iron door of the cell, immediately being shocked at what he saw. The desk in the center of the room had been flipped over, the phonograph lying smashed on the ground and in a million pieces. The small bookshelf had been emptied of all its volumes, the books themselves having been stripped of countless pages and then covered in mad scribblings. Ripped book covers and spines littered the floor aside shattered records in the sort of carnage that would make a librarian weep.

And in the middle of the chaos, pacing back and forth over what could be called an intellectual massacre, was the General. He ignored the guard as he entered, too busy muttering to himself and jotting down nonsensical notes on the paper. His shirt was covered in sweat stains and dirt smudges and a beard had even begun to take over his face as he seemed to have thrown all hygiene out the window. Ever since he had obtained news of Amon's death, General Kohun seemed to be suffering from some sort of mental breakdown.

"Only a matter of time." He muttered to himself. "Someone else will find the notes. Nonononono NO! Can't deal with someone else. Need to find the trail myself. Need to…"

The guard took a step forward, resting a hand on his baton. "Sir." He began, stopping as the crazed man halted his actions and gazed at him with a blankly curious stare. The guard cleared his throat. "The warden thinks you've been in solitary too long. You need to take a walk and get some fresh air."

Kohun's amber eyes suddenly regained their old fire. His posture quickly straightened and he suddenly seemed far less demented. A low chuckle emanated from his throat. "I agree completely." With that, he flung the papers into the air, confusing and frightening the guard.

"Bad stance!" He heard the General say as he felt his legs kicked out cruelly from under him. The guard reached for his club, only to feel it snatched off of his belt before he could reach it. Filled with anger and fear, the guard sent a vicious tongue of flame from his hand, arcing it out in front of him. The prisoner ducked down and quickly moved around to his captor's side, grabbing the guard's wrist.

"Poor bending technique!" He taunted as he brought the stolen club down brutally onto the guard's elbow, a vile snapping sound echoing throughout the cell. Before the guard could scream from the immense pain, Kohun placed a precise blow on his neck, rendering him unconscious. Kohun sighed at the limp guard. "And let's face it my friend, it could help you to work off a few pounds."

As the guard slumped to the ground, Kohun knelt down for his keys. Kohun poked his head out into the hallway, seeing no one in any direction. Before stepping out, he took one last look into the trashed cell that had served as his only home for seven years. "Such a waste of good books." He sighed, lamenting the necessary sacrifice of his literary collection. Nothing caught a warden's attention like a nutcase though and any good escape needed the warden's attention.

"They'll catch me if I try to get out alone." He thought. The sly escapee smiled as an idea found him and then walked towards the direction of the prison yard. "But not if everyone decides they want to come with me."

* * *

"How many, exactly?" Chief of the Republic City Police Lin Beifong asked the radio operator sitting next to her as she stood over his work station.

"Almost five hundred freshly-escaped convicts are in between here and Ba Sing Se, ma'am." The operator said.

Beifong's eyes widened. "Five hundred?"

"Yes ma'am." The radio operator listened with some difficulty over the static in his large headphones. "It seems as if one of the higher-security prisoners incited a mass breakout attempt. The warden is requesting that all police forces within the area lend a hand in recapturing them."

"Why did it take them three weeks to tell us of such a large breakout?"

The radioman just shrugged as he tried to cut through more static. The Equalists had resorted to sabotaging the telegraph lines and radio towers lately.

Chief Beifong stood back and momentarily took her attention away from the radioman, incidentally catching sight of a blue-clad girl sneaking towards the interrogation room. "Avatar Korra!"

Korra immediately assumed a nonchalant stroll, casually veering off course and approaching the Police Chief. "Chief Beifong," She said in false surprise. "It's nice to see you!" The Water Tribe girl did her best to mask her frustration at getting caught.

"Cut the crap, missy." Beifong sneered. "You know that you're not allowed to go into that room without me or Tenzin."

Korra heaved out an angry sigh. She couldn't stand it that despite being the one and only Avatar she was still treated like a child by the authorities. "Ever since we took back Republic City a month ago the Equalist's have been trying to pick up where Amon left off. Now, all of a sudden, _I_ catch one of their top messengers and I'm not even allowed to interrogate the guy?"

Chief Beifong felt a smirk forming on her face. "I'm glad you understand the rules."

The young Avatar adopted a defeated stance, looking at the ground for a moment. Beifong just crossed her arms. Korra decided to give a pout that she used on Tenzin whenever she was feeling manipulative. "Come on, Chief." She pleaded. "You know that you at least owe me this." Whenever Korra needed to twist Beifong's arm, she brought up the fact that she had restored the Chief's bending.

Beifong scoffed at Korra. "I am eternally grateful, Avatar. Believe me. But I have something more important in mind for you than an interrogation." Korra raised an eyebrow, skeptical as to whether or not they would agree on what made something important.

"What exactly?" Korra inquired.

The Chief turned and began walking towards her office, motioning for the Avatar to follow her. Once they were inside, Beifong took a seat behind her desk and began looking through her reports. Korra tried her best to be patient as the police chief took her sweet time getting comfortable.

"Amon left behind several safehouses in the outer boroughs of Republic City." Beifong finally began, not bothering to even glance up from her paperwork. "From what we can tell the man spent years on meticulous planning. He kept logs of everything; he had a file on everyone. Needless to say any information that he possessed could prove extremely useful in any of the ongoing Equalist cleanup operations. We've found a few of these safehouses, but nothing really big."

"Until now?" Korra interjected.

Beifong sat back in her chair, a stiff smirk on her face. "We have reason to believe that we have acquired the location of Amon's main headquarters before the uprising. If our intelligence is correct, we'll have a goldmine of knowledge that could end the Equalists for good."

Korra felt the blood already pumping through her veins. "Well, let's go then." She turned to leave slowing down only so that she could hear Beifong yelling the address after her. She was in such a hurry that the only way she noticed the police recruit walking towards her was by running right into him. Korra looked up into the green-eyed stare of her best friend.

"Bolin!" She said, wondering if Beifong would let him come along.

Bolin smiled and grabbed her shoulders in excitement. "You're going to the bust, too?"

"You're going?" She asked.

Bolin straightened himself and cracked his knuckles. "Even as a rookie I get the good jobs." The earthbender then gave her one of the grins that characterized him better than any words. "Of course, being on Team Avatar helps."

Korra gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder as they began walking towards the squad cars. "This is awesome."

Bolin chuckled. "It certainly is for me. I'm the one who gets to raid Amon's old headquarters with the _Avatar_." He hopped into the back of one of the personnel cars while Korra hopped onto Naga. "I'm telling you, Kor, this is the best birthday present ever."

Korra just laughed. "Your birthday was three weeks ago."

Bolin leaned back against the wall of the patrol van. "Every day is my birthday." He said, closing the door as the cars began to speed off towards the scene.


	3. Chapter 3: Not According to Plan

"He has two compound fractures and several cracked ribs along with a severe concussion." The nurse said to the lone visitor as he stood over the Lieutenant's hospital bed. "It's a good thing that he's asleep. I can't imagine how painful it would be if he was conscious through all of this." The visitor couldn't even speak as he looked at the patient lying in the bed. All that he could do was muster a solemn expression and grip his hat tighter as he held it over his chest.

The nurse placed a comforting hand on the visiting man's shoulder, trying to look for comforting words as she saw tears welling up in his eyes. "I'll give you some time with him." She said, walking out and leaving him alone in the room with the broken patient.

As soon as the door was fully closed, the visitor rubbed the tears from his red eyes and laid his hat at the foot of the bed. Kohun then took out the injection needle that he had taken from the nurse on her way out. Her words kept echoing in his head.

"What a shame it would be if someone accidentally gave you adrenaline instead of morphine." Kohun whispered to the sleeping Lieutenant.

Within seconds of the injection, the Lieutenant's eyes shot open and he gasped for air. Kohun could tell from the look on his face that his body was suffering from a trauma that could not be put into the human language. Air constantly forced its way roughly back and forth in the Lieutenant's throat, only being interrupted by cracked whimpers that issued from the dying man's lungs. His eyes turned desperately to the man standing over him, only to sink deeper into despair as he recognized Kohun.

Kohun merely leaned down and did his best to make sure that the violently shaking man didn't fall out of his bed. "Shhh." He cooed. "You'll go into shock soon. But I can help you." He explained by revealing the morphine that he had also stolen. His reassuring expression suddenly turned cold as he looked right into the man's eyes. "You betrayed and tortured me all those years ago because you thought Amon was the safer bet as the Equalist's leader. Well, let's just say that you obviously made the wrong choice." He couldn't help but smile a little as he looked at the only man left living that he really hated. "I'm here for revenge, but I'm also here for help. I need you to answer one question, old friend. Just one."

The Lieutenant only huffed and wheezed as he felt his consciousness slipping away. Kohun took that as a sign not to take too long with his revenge. "Where were Amon's headquarters?"

Kohun waited, staring straight into his victim's eyes. Finally, the Lieutenant's lips parted and he mustered the last bit of strength that he had to utter the words. They only came out as a raspy whisper, but Kohun heard it clear enough. "Safehouse 18."

Just before he went into shock, the Lieutenant felt his pain begin to subside in a wave of numbness. He turned his head and gave a weak stare to Kohun as the man disposed of the two needles. "W-Why?"

Kohun stood, looming over the man that had betrayed him so long ago. "The same reason that you never told anyone your real name." He said. The Lieutenant laid his head back and began to slip into unconsciousness. Kohun grabbed his hat from the bed and headed for the door. "To protect my family."

* * *

The decrepit old buildings in the outskirts of Republic City made everyone on edge. It was Equalist territory. Even after they had been forced back into hiding and even with the military presence in Republic City this part of town remained theirs. A bender didn't walk alone down these streets. A bender didn't even walk with ten other benders down here. If you didn't have something that was unthinkably urgent to attend to, you didn't wander into the outskirts.

"And here we are." Bolin said to himself as he jumped out of the truck. The other police officers began to establish a perimeter as Korra appeared at his side, still mounted on Naga. Bolin laughed as the polar bear-dog gave him an excited and sloppy lick on the face. "Good to see you, too."

Korra hopped off and looked at the safehouse across the street. "You're lucky she hasn't knocked you down. You didn't even say goodbye when you left the South Pole."

Bolin felt a small pang of guilt as she reminded him. After his birthday, Bolin had left the Southern Water Tribe for Republic City with Chief Beifong. He hadn't told anyone why he was leaving or that he was going away at all, except of course for Korra.

"Sorry about that." He said soberly.

Korra gave him an understanding smile as they approached the safehouse. "I told you, Bo. It's fine. Now let's go and knock some heads."

Bolin smiled in agreement.

The two stopped at the door of the dilapidated office building, looking back at the other policemen to make sure they were all ready to breach the building.

Bolin chuckled, taking one final breath before the plunge and smiling to his friend. He stomped his foot on the ground, sending a rock through the bolt of the door just as Korra kicked it open. Within a few moments, the building was swarming with metalbender cops.

The building was exactly what they had been hoping for. The only parts of the walls that weren't covered by filing cabinets were occupied by maps and schematics. The room itself was filled with work desks that seemed to have only been recently abandoned, still covered in reports and messages from other Equalist cells.

Korra could hardly contain her excitement. They had struck gold. The single largest information cache in Republic City was now theirs. The feeling of anticipation ran through her. It wasn't like it normally was, though. Normally she was anticipating the worst. She was expecting a horrible and sudden turn of events. At best she could predict only a minor reprieve from the everyday stress of the Equalist threat. But now, finally, it was all going to be over. She now anticipated how it would feel for it all to finally be done and buried.

"Korra!" She heard Bolin shout from the second floor. "You've got to see this!"

She raced up the stairs as the other officers were busy securing the first floor. She found Bolin standing in an armory with enough weapons to supply a small army. Equalist gloves and electrified bolas were tucked neatly into shelves alongside spears and knives and swords of expert craftsmanship. In near the center of the room was a table with a complete map of Republic City. Several spots on the map were marked as "safe zones" and others as "targets". That one map alone could shorten the war by months, maybe even years.

Then she caught sight of Bolin. He was standing in the doorway to what looked like the central office. The light was on in that room, while the rest of the building had been dark.

Bolin looked over his shoulder. "I have a feeling this place is still in use."

Korra moved past him and into the office. On the desk there was a solitary file that had been fanned open. She couldn't help but walk up and read it, even though it was very likely that whoever had been reading it was still in this building.

Stamped out onto the tab of the folder was its subject: _General Kohun_

She had never heard the name, but a picture that was tucked into the folder caught her attention. Before she could even completely recognize the three people in the picture, she felt a strong pulling sensation in the back of her mind. Aang knew about this, and he was trying to warn her. She was so caught up in her observations that she didn't even hear the sounds of electricity charging and people fighting downstairs.

"Korra! It's a trap!" Bolin shouted from the doorway. "We have to get out of here now!"

She snapped out of her trance and turned around just in time for the planted explosives to detonate behind her instead of in her face. Korra went flying forwards, landing face first at Bolin's feet. He stooped down to help her up, only to be tossed aside like a rag doll as more explosives went off next to him. Korra tried her best to get up. The only thing she could hear above the high-pitched ringing in her ears was her own heartbeat.

She felt the floor give way under her and the support beams begin to falter. She gave one last glance upwards as she saw Bolin holding his side and turning to fight off an Equalist that was charging at him. Then time seemed to skip like a needle on a record. The next thing she fully comprehended was lying on her back, two floors down, on a pile of rubble, with a mysterious trenchcoat-wearing figure standing over her. Before she got a good look at the man, his boot met her face in a swift kick.

* * *

Korra slowly opened her eyes, her skull pounding. She looked around the dimly lit room, her eyes quickly adjusting to the light. The room was empty for the most part, the only light coming from a halfway boarded up window that let in the lights from the city. The wallpaper was peeling and the bare wooden floor was rotting. She was in some sort of two-bit hideout.

She felt her hands tied behind her back, quietly testing the strength of the bonds.

"I know how to tie a knot. You won't get out of those." A voice came from the along the wall.

Korra turned to spot the man in the trench coat. He sat in the other corner of the small room, resting his back against the same wall as her and staring into his hat with a dark expression. He wore a plain white undershirt beneath the coat. The only identifying marks on his clothing were a belt buckle that was reminiscent of those on United Nations soldier's uniforms and a badge on his military visor hat that was a curious mix of the Fire Nation and Water Tribe emblems. His eyes were the amber color of a firebender and his hair was a dark brown. A cleanly cut beard covered his jaw, clearly accented by his high cheekbones.

Korra shifted her weight a bit, adopting a kneeling position. She wondered how fast she could swing her leg out and kick some air at him.

The man turned his face to her. "Now would you mind telling me exactly why you were helping Equalists burn that building down?"

Korra looked at him quizzically. "I don't work with Equalists. Don't you know who I am?" She normally didn't waste this much time with people who had just abducted her, but she felt a strange calmness in the back of her mind. She felt like somehow, she recognized this man. She felt an odd feeling of both familiarity and safety. The strangest part was that this feeling came both from her own mind and Aang's in a curious mix of memory and Avatar intuition.

"I suppose not." He stood up and stretched, looking at her for a moment before deciding that she was telling the truth. "I don't get much news in prison." He walked over to Korra and cut her bonds. She stood up, rubbing her wrists as the man stooped down to pick up his hat. As he lifted it, a small photograph slipped out and fluttered down to the floor.

Korra leaned down to pick it up, recognizing the man next to her standing next to two people that she would know anywhere. She looked up at him. "How do you now my parents?" Korra asked the man, a hint of determined hostility in her voice.

"Your what?" He asked in surprise. His expression quickly turned from one of confusion to disbelief. His hands slumped to his sides and he seemed to have both lost and gained everything in the world. The man stared at her in shock for a moment. "W-Who are you?"

"I'm Avatar Korra!" She shouted. "Who the hell are you?"

His face brightened at the sound of her name. Korra felt her heart leap as the tall man rushed forward and snatched her up in a bear hug almost as fierce as one of Bolin's. Naturally she would not be very welcome to such an affectionate display from someone who had just abducted her, but that eerie sense of familiarity flared up as she felt his embrace.

"You really don't remember me?" He asked her, setting the Avatar down and stepping back.

Korra just stood there, her face frozen into a curious stare. The man rolled his eyes as his face took on a disappointed look.

"Makes sense that you don't remember, otherwise that safehouse wouldn't have _burned_ down." He crossed his arms and stressed his words in a manner reminiscent of a teacher hinting at an answer. "I always cautioned you not to play with fire."

With that, Korra felt an old memory come flooding back to her. Her vision looked past the beard and the seven years of aging and the small scar on his right cheek. She remembered the embrace in the cold and the warmth of laughter. Korra's eyes lit up as she recalled the memory of her first firebending teacher.

"Uncle Kohun?" She asked.


	4. Chapter 4: Flashback

A twenty-nine year old Kohun walked through the snowy lanes that passed for streets in the small Southern Water Tribe village. It had been three years since he was last here and nothing had changed…almost nothing, anyway.

The tired man shuffled up to the hut that he hadn't seen in years. The tiny blue-eyed woman doing laundry in front of the house didn't even recognize him at first. His smile quickly jogged her memory, though. "Hello Senna." He said with longing warmth in his voice.

Senna just stood up and smiled, rushing over to her old friend and hugging him. For a moment they just held the embrace, laughing happily. "I'm glad you decided not to forget about us." She said after a moment.

Kohun just chuckled, a small bit of sorrow creeping into his heart. "I'm happy to be back."

Senna turned towards the house, calling to her husband and beckoning for Kohun to come inside. As they approached the door, a man as tall as Kohun stepped out. He paused, an expression of shock quickly turning into a joyous grin.

"So you finally married her, then?" Kohun asked Tonraq, motioning to his wife. "Took you long enough."

Tonraq couldn't find any words, all he could do was let out a booming roar of a laugh as the two lifelong friends embraced. "You crazy bastard!" Tonraq mused. "Never thought I'd see you again. Damn, I've missed you!" Senna lightly grabbed Tonraq's arm and shushed him, motioning towards the house. Tonraq sighed in remembrance of the child sleeping inside and quieted down a bit.

The three friends' cheerful reunion moved into the house, Kohun setting his travelling bags down near the door. "I've missed you both, too. Sadly I can't be staying here for long."

Senna made an expression of mock surprise. "Well hopefully the police will at least give you enough time to have dinner." She walked over to the boiling pot of Water Tribe noodles that she had prepared for dinner. Kohun couldn't help but feel overly welcome.

"Really?" He asked as he slipped off his heavy parka. "You wouldn't mind feeding a famous terrorist?"

Tonraq slapped his friend's back and plopped down at the table next to his wife. "Friends before politics." He chuckled, casually shrugging off the weight of the law. "Besides, you're family." Senna cast a sorrowful and nervous glance to her husband as Kohun sat down.

"Speaking of which," Kohun began. "I came down here to see Kiah, but someone else is living in our old house." He paused to look at Tonraq and Senna, seeing their expressions turn to sadness. "Did she leave town?" He asked, searching for an explanation.

They just sat there in silence. Senna began wringing her braided ponytail with her hands, something she always did when they were kids. Kohun couldn't understand why the mention of her sister made Senna feel so upset. He turned to look at Tonraq, probably his oldest and most trusted friend in the world. His friend's blue eyes held in them a sadness that Kohun knew all too well. It was the sadness of breaking the news to someone who didn't yet know.

It hit him like a hammer as he realized what his friend was about to do. As a soldier Kohun had done it many times. He had told the family of their son's or daughter's or father's or mother's inglorious death, doing his best to make it sound like they died for something. He never thought he would be on the receiving end of the news. It just had never crossed his mind. Even when Aang died, it didn't come as a surprise. It had been coming for a while. But this…this left Kohun dazed and confused.

"How?" Kohun asked, his mind ready to snap.

Tonraq did his best to maintain his composure. "She died in childbirth."

"My daughter?" Kohun said, his face filled with blankness. "My little Kira?"

Senna lowered her head as the tears began to flow in memory of her sweet sister. Tonraq did his best to say it, but there was no way that he could express what had happened without his voice breaking, even after three years. "I'm so sorry, Kohun." He finally said.

The most painful part of that moment was that Kohun couldn't feel pain. He felt numb. Without a single word he stood up and walked outside, leaving Tonraq to soothe his wife's grief. He stood there and looked out over the horizon, the sun having just recently set and a few stray flecks of brilliant orange gracing the darkening sky. He leaned back against the side of the hut, sliding down to the ground as it all finally came together in his mind. Kiah, a girl that he had promised to love until her dying breath was now gone. That wasn't the worst part. The most painful part was that he had left her alone.

He had left both of them. He had abandoned the girl that loved him with all of her heart to die alone giving birth to his child. And now here he was, ready to be a father and a husband to the two people that he should have been there for all along, and they were both gone. Never again would he feel her warm figure in his arms or smell her perfume. Never would he see his child's eyes looking up at him. Never would he hold his wife as they watched their young daughter playing with her friends, learning how to bend, growing up, or falling in love.

Kohun sat there as the light faded from the world and night swept over the landscape, the tears running freely down his cheeks as the cold wind battered his face. Both the sun in the sky and the sun that lit his life were now gone, nothing left of either of them but loving memories and brilliant streaks in the sky. He cried until he no longer had tears to shed, and then he just sat there, an empty husk of who he had been only minutes before.

He heard the soft crunch of snow interrupt his grief and self-loathing as a tiny figure jumped out of a small and moved towards him in the dark. He turned towards it, looking into the little girl's bright blue eyes.

"Why are you sad?" She asked. She couldn't have been more than three years old, but something in her stare made her seem much older.

Kohun found the strength within him to muster a smile and answer her. "I made a bad choice." He felt a sickening pit in his soul as he uttered the words. "And now I have to live with it."

The bright eyed girl sat down next to him, looking innocently up at his hard face. "Daddy shows me fun tricks when I'm sad." She said. "Wanna see a trick I learned?"

"Not now Aang." He muttered, not realizing his mistake of identity. Aang had always showed him quirky little airbending tricks when he was depressed and the way the little girl asked was so similar to the old man that Kohun actually thought for a moment that he was talking to his friend and not a three-year-old.

She cast him a glance of major annoyance. "Who's Aang?" She said. "My name's Korra!" To make sure he understood, she pointed her thumb at herself triumphantly. Kohun chuckled, recalling the name that Senna had always wanted to give to her first girl.

He took his eyes off of the child for a moment, reminded of how his own daughter would be that age if she were alive. When he looked back, little Korra was holding a small flame in her hands. Fearing for the child's safety, Kohun instinctively pulled the child back. "What are you doing?" He asked her, not even bothering to ask where she acquired the fire.

"It's my new trick. I found it last week." She smiled up at him, her palms opening up and summoning a flame from thin air. "I told you it would cheer you up."

Kohun stared in amazement at the flames. This little water tribe girl was firebending. He didn't know how or why, all he knew was that it was one of the strangest things he had ever seen. "You're right." He said. "That is a pretty cool trick. Have you shown your parents?"

Korra looked down and the small flame grew to be only a flicker. "I showed daddy a few days ago. But I think I made him mad. He looked at mommy all funny when I showed him and told me to go to my room." Kohun couldn't help but laugh as he imagined the scene. The child didn't understand the adult themes of her little misadventure, but he certainly caught it. "Well I think it's great, Korra."

Little Korra smiled, encouraged by his compliment. "I can make it real big! Look!" She stared into her palms for a moment, causing that small fire to sputter and expand suddenly. With a bright flash of light and a cry of pain, the flame disappeared. The little girl curled up, holding her hands underneath her armpits, trying to ease the pain of the burns. Tears welled up in her big blue eyes as she began to softly sob.

Kohun scooted over and put his arm around his niece. "Hey. It's okay." He calmed Korra, a feeling of patriarchal responsibility taking over. He gently looked at one of her hands, sighing in relief as the burn was extremely light. "You're lucky that's all that you did. Fire isn't a toy." He spoke in a rebuking, yet comforting tone. "You've got to be more careful."

Korra looked up at him, giggling through her tears. "You know a lot about fire, mister." His niece had a strong will, already cracking jokes after just burning herself.

Kohun flashed her a wry grin. "Well, I…"

"Korra!"

The two turned to look at Senna and Tonraq rushing towards them. "Uh oh." Korra muttered. Senna stooped down to check on her daughter, restraining a small gasp as she saw her burned fingers. "You were playing with fire again, weren't you? How did you even get out here?"

Tonraq rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, I never actually did fix that window."

Senna glared at her husband for a moment before picking her daughter up and attending to her. "We'll talk about this firebending business later." She said to both her husband and her daughter at once.

Korra tugged at her mother's sleeve and pointed towards Kohun. "Mommy, that nice man knows fire. He can help me." Her parents looked over to him like he was a caged dog that should be pitied, not sure if Kohun wouldn't just make more problems.

He smiled, somehow feeling that he might have a second chance at being there for the only family he had left. "I'll teach you how to firebend, Korra." He felt a weight being lifted from his heart, as if this was some redemption for how he had never helped his family in the past.

Korra's eyes brightened up, and Kohun instantly felt a bond with the three-year-old girl. He stooped down and smiled at her. "You can call me Uncle Kohun, by the way."


	5. Chapter 5: What Next?

Kohun nodded politely to Pema as he took a seat at the table. "Thank you again for the food." He said, not hesitating to immediately begin slurping at his soup.

Pema smiled and sat down herself, happy that the children weren't awake to harass the guest. "Of course. Any friend of Korra's is a friend of ours."

Kohun couldn't help but smirk a bit as he thought of how Tenzin probably wouldn't say the same thing when he got back to the island. Pema looked over the stranger, noting his half-military\half-civilian attire and choosing to ignore the insignias that signified his allegiance to a dead country. She looked over at his trenchcoat, which he had laid on the ground next to him, and took notice of the large tear in one of the sleeves. "How did that happen, exactly?"

Kohun's eyes left his soup for a moment as he followed his hostess's eyes. A forced chuckle emanated from him as he gave a momentary glance to Korra, who just shrugged with a look of guilt on her face. He turned back to Pema. "I'm afraid that when Naga found us walking back to the docks she sort of…jumped on me."

Korra gave an awkward laugh. "Sorry again." She said to her uncle.

He just smiled. "Naga grew since I last saw her." Kohun finally went back to his soup. "I never actually thought that you'd keep her." He said in between slurps. "I thought it was just a phase."

Korra gave him a curious glance. "Because sneaking into a polar bear-dog's den at nine years old and stealing one of its puppies is just a 'phase'." She waved her fingers, making air quotes as she uttered the last word.

A look of immense concern washed over Pema's usually calm face. "Why on Earth would you do something that dangerous Korra?"

Before Korra could come up with a valid answer, Kohun propped his elbows up on the table and cupped his hands like he was holding a tiny bird. "Because the puppies were just sooo cute!" He spoke his words in the mocking tone of an adult finding amusement in a child's innocence.

Kohun joined Pema in laughing at the humor of the situation as Korra just sat there, her expression a mix of confusion and mild guilt. "But they really were!"

A large bellow, the kind too distinctive to be anything other than the cry of a homeward-bound sky bison, suddenly drowned out the dinnertime conversation. They all quickly stood and went out into the central courtyard just in time to see Oogi softly setting down from a long flight.

A tall young man with black hair and golden eyes, clad in nothing particularly distinctive other than a crimson scarf around his neck, slid down from the bison first, followed by Bolin. Mako's face brightened into a big smile as he ran towards the Avatar, and she likewise to him. "Korra!" He shouted in a tone of great relief, embracing her in a warm hug. "We've been looking all over for you!"

"I'm sorry." She said to him, cupping his cheek and looking into his eyes. "Avatar stuff got me."

Mako, despite the expression of happiness on his face, was obviously looking for an explanation from his girlfriend. Before he could manage to ask, he and Korra were both suddenly embraced in the strong arms of his brother. "I'm so happy you're safe!" Bolin said, nearly picking the two of them up off of the ground.

After a few moments of snuggling his two favorite people like they were teddy bears, he set them back down. Mako, after working the crick out of his neck, looked back at Korra with the same glance as before. "How did you manage to get abducted by Equalists our first day back?" He asked her, his voice tinted with a mixture of both concern and exasperation. "I sent you out to get groceries!"

Bolin did his best not to snicker too loudly as he saw Korra's embarrassed look. "Honestly," she began. "I wasn't trying to do anything. The market just happened to be where some Equalist couriers were plotting and I took one down to the police station and…" Mako rolled his eyes as she told the story, knowing that it was a bit too convenient for trouble to just happen to find her.

While Korra was explaining her story to her vexed-but-relieved boyfriend, a far less happy reunion was taking place on the other side of the courtyard.

Tenzin gave an exhausted smile to his beloved wife, lines of weariness etched into his face. But why oh why must there be a visitor at this hour. He was spent, dealing with Council business all day only to come home and find Bolin sputtering on about Korra being lost in a police raid when she wasn't even supposed to be off of the island at all that day.

Tenzin's eyes lazily drifted over to the man standing next to Pema. Something seemed strangely familiar about him. From the United Republic uniform that was the wrong color and the general's cap that bore the seal of the Southern Fire Colonies down to the scar on his cheek and the determined flame in his amber eyes, Tenzin understood the presence to be one that he had not felt in years. Tenzin felt his resolve dissipate as he finally put the pieces together.

Kohun made his best effort to be composed, a little bit shocked that his old friend's son still had yet to yell at him for being in his home. "Tenzin!" He finally said, a great smile stretching across his face as he held out his arms for an embrace that he knew probably wouldn't come.

"I'm too tired for this!" Tenzin thought to himself as he stood over Kohun, only taller than the ex-terrorist by a few inches.

"You grew a beard." Tenzin observed in a monotone, his immense exhaustion from the day drowning out any hint of genuine enthusiasm that he actually had.

Kohun dropped one arm to his side, the other reaching up to scratch at his unkempt facial hair. "I thought it might get me a few points." He chuckled forcefully, waiting for Tenzin's wrath.

"The police are looking for you." Tenzin's voice remained without emotion. "And you come here."

Kohun shook his head. "I had no idea that the White Lotus even let Korra leave the South Pole." His statement was quickly followed by a small scoff from Tenzin. Kohun honestly barely received any news in prison from the few contacts that he had. When he did get any information it was regarding Amon's latest actions, but even then he was told very little regarding specifics. "I was only in Republic City to burn the paper trail that could tie anyone to me."

Tenzin just glared at him with a look that showed that he was far too tired to wait for the rest of the story.

"And I finally came to the realization that prison sucks and I miss my family." Kohun added finally, casting a glance over to his niece and her friends.

Tenzin sighed and pushed past Kohun. "There's an empty room in the men's dormitory." He mumbled, heading towards his quarters followed swiftly by his wife. "I'll deal with this in the morning."

After finishing her story, Korra took in a deep breath before looking back to Mako. "Any questions?"

"How'd you get that?"Mako said, brushing some hair back from Korra's forehead to look at the bruise just above her brow. She winced ever so slightly as his fingers brushed it.

"Sorry again." Said an unfamiliar voice from behind them.

Mako, Korra, and Bolin turned to look at Kohun, who had approached them following Tenzin's abrasive pleasantries.

Korra's face brightened into an all-out grin as she pulled Mako and Bolin over to Kohun. "Guys." Her eyes held a jubilant excitement that made it look as if she was about to burst with glee. "This is my uncle and my first ever firebending teacher."

"General Kohun." The tall man introduced himself with a respectful bow, straightening his trenchcoat as he rose back up, only further stressing the long tear in one of his sleeves.

Mako and Bolin both returned the gesture and introduced themselves.

Bolin, being a quirky and straightforward fellow if he was anything, decided to ask the first question. "I'm sorry, but if you're Korra's uncle…" he paused for a moment in hesitation. "Then why are you white?"

A long, awkward silence cut through the air to the point that it was deafening. Korra and Kohun exchanged glances for a moment, bursting into raucous laughter almost to the point that it drew tears. Mako jabbed his brother with his elbow and stared him down.

"Spirits, Bo! You can't just ask people why they're white!"

Kohun finally got control of himself, saving Bolin from his older brother's anger. "It's fine, Mako. It's fine. I married Korra's aunt." He explained. "There's no actual blood between us."

Korra nudged her uncle with her shoulder. "He's still the best firebending teacher of all time."

"Oh stop." Kohun said with an exaggerated grin. "You're embarrassing me."

They all shared a small laugh. Mako gave Kohun an intrigued glance. "So you taught Korra how to firebend?"

"As best I could."

Mako couldn't help but shoot a curious stare at Kohun. "What do you mean?"

The general shrugged, looking up to the sky. "Well." He began, pointing at the Avatar with his thumb. "Her last incarnation took my bending away years ago. All I ever taught Korra was stances and techniques and fighting combinations."

Mako would have liked to continue the conversation, but a loud and exaggerated yawn from his brother encouraged him to think differently. He suddenly felt the last few hours of searching and worrying catch up with him as his brother began to walk towards the male dormitory. "Oh, man. I think I'm going to turn in for the night." He bowed to Kohun once more. "It was a pleasure to meet you, General."

He stepped over to Korra and they exchanged a quiet "goodnight" as well as a brief but tender kiss before he turned to follow his brother.

Korra watched him as he walked away, caught up in her own little world for a moment. That was, until she heard a soft humming from behind her. Korra looked over her shoulder at her uncle, who stood there with a huge grin on his face. "Young looove." He hummed. "Four seasons for love!"

His little serenade was quickly cut short as he jumped back to avoid a small fireball that Korra had launched at his feet. He still couldn't help but laugh a little. "Aww. Did I hit a nerve on that one?" He chided her playfully.

Korra rolled her eyes at him. "I'm a fully realized Avatar now." She warned. "I'd be careful if I were you."

The two spent the next hour or so catching up with each other. In that time, Kohun heard everything that he had missed ever since he had last seen Korra more than seven years ago. From her passing her firebending test to leaving for Republic City to meeting Mako to the final fight with Amon, Kohun felt as if he had been there the entire time. He only stopped the story to confirm what was happening so far or to tease her for her budding relationship with Mako.

When she had finally finished with her story, Kohun could only lean back against a post of the small gazebo that they stood in and smile. "I'm sorry I missed such an adventure with you. But I think it was high time that you finally got your own adventure." He smiled, remembering the ten-year-old girl that he had last seen as having such a desperate want to be in one of the great stories that he had told her of. Now she stood in front of him, having completed what was sure to be only the first in a great number of quests that she would encounter. She was so different from that girl that he knew. She had grown into a young woman who was responsible and dutiful, but at the same time, if he looked hard enough, he could see the little girl that he showed how to firebend.

Korra grinned up at one of her most prominent childhood idols. "It's great knowing that I can get in touch with my spiritual side. And going into the Avatar state…" She paused for a moment.

Kohun looked at her with concern, the happy and joyous Korra that he had always known suddenly disappearing behind a shroud of uncertainty and self-doubt. He supposed that not all of growing up had been good to Korra. She was young, especially for an Avatar. "What's wrong?" He asked, his tone taking on that of patriarchal caring that he had not used in years.

Korra shrugged, chewing on her lip. "When Aang gave me my bending back I wasn't as good as I was before." She explained further by making a small ball of fire in her hand, an easy and simple feat for any experienced firebender, but Kohun saw what was wrong. She was concentrating, harder even than she was on that one snowy night when she was four. In spite of her efforts, the flame twisted and moved unhealthily, twitching and sputtering like a torch in the wind. "I can only really control the elements in the Avatar state." She sighed, letting the small flame die out. "I have to re-learn almost everything I've ever known."

Korra looked down in defeat, hugging herself in a manner of helplessness that Kohun had rarely ever seen her experience.

Kohun smiled stepping forward and placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't get down on yourself." He tilted her chin up and looked into the same brave blue eyes that he saw in her as a child. "It seems to me that you've got quite the road ahead of you. And it also seems that you'll need a new firebending teacher."

Her face lit up, both in thankfulness and in revelation. "I can give you your bending back!" She said excitedly. "You can teach me firsthand!"

Kohun gave her a beaming smile. "I can't even express how amazing that would be. Let's do it first thing tomorrow."

"Why not right now?" She suggested.

The tall man, a non-bender for almost twenty years now, felt almost hesitant of having his power again. "I've spent years without my skills, Korra." He chuckled. "I even dedicated my life to empowering non-benders for a while there. I think I'll enjoy just one more night without bending." He didn't want to close a chapter of his life so abruptly. He had to meditate on it. He had to contemplate the close of this section of his existence.

With a look of understanding, Korra gave her uncle a warm embrace happy that one of her oldest mentors was back in her life. As they parted ways and she walked towards her room Korra began to agree with Kohun's sentiment of having one last night to ponder all that was about to change. She was about to start the long and arduous task of re-learning all four of the elements. A new chapter in her own story was beginning as well.


	6. Chapter 6: Teachers

"Naga! Get off!" Kohun rebuked the polar bear-dog that gnawed on the reinforced heel of his boot. She had snuck up on him as he meditated and tackled him to the ground, leaving him sprawled on his back as she tried to steal the shoe off of his foot. His attempts to shake her off were futile as he kicked and tried to sit up, the playful Naga's jaws never releasing their grip on his boot.

In only a few months the animal had grown to be the size of an adult timber wolf, causing many people in the compound to worry and avoid Korra's new pet. Naga tended to follow Kohun, however, commonly chewing articles of his clothing whenever he wasn't wearing them. Lately she had become a bit more courageous, as evident by her current attack in his very person.

"No, girl!"

Naga quickly let go and bowed her head as she heard her master's voice. "Bad!" Korra reprimanded the pup as it whimpered, her tail still wagging as an indication that she was only sorry for being caught.

Kohun struggled to his feet, dusting the soft flakes of snow off of his heavy parka and straightening his hat. The thick tower of a man stood over the ten-year-old Avatar, looking from her to her pet and back again.

"You're late, Korra." He said in slightly grudging tone.

She looked down at the ground with a pout, sadly tracing idle patterns in the snow with her foot. Kohun folded his arms, determined not to let her off so easy as she stared up at him with those huge sapphires that passed for her eyes.

Kohun finally let out a sigh of defeat, a corner of his mouth pulling back into a grin. "Can those eyes get any bigger?"

She laughed, always knowing that he couldn't stay mad at her.

He shuddered and rubbed his hands together as a cold wind rippled through the otherwise still morning air. No one else in the White Lotus compound was awake yet, small flecks of grayish orange only just now beginning to peek over the high walls as dawn broke in the South Pole.

"Alright. Get into your stance." He instructed.

Without hesitation Korra jumped up into the air, turning towards the facing sun and landing in her starting position. Kohun rolled his eyes and smoothly slid his posture into that of a firebender. He glanced over at his student as she stood there patiently, her eyes closed and her face in an expression of focus, something that she was seldom able to hold for very long. He knew what she was feeling. Even after fourteen years without his bending he could still remember the relief and the exhilaration of the rising sun.

"In." He commanded softly, his voice sounding as soft as the snow yet as warm as the sunlight that was beginning to splash the gray morning with color. He and Korra drew a breath in unison, holding it for an undetermined count. Sometimes they were long, sometimes short. He liked to switch it up and keep her attention.

"Out." He finally said, the two of them exhaling.

Kohun felt nothing with these exercises. They were little more than a dull reminder that he could no longer feel the passion that he once had. When he could firebend every breath stirred the energy within his soul and excited the embers of his inner fire, but now he felt only air in his lungs passing routinely over his cold lips.

"In."

For the last seven years he had taught her the exercises. Something about it gave him a purpose. He knew what she felt as the sun rose. The tingling and teasing sensation of energy as it began to ripple through the very essence of her existence. Knowing that he could teach something helpful was his greatest motivation. It was the reason that he still sent dispatches to the Equalists, behind Katara's back of course. No one could understand why he did it: Why he enjoyed empowering the weak against the strong. It was his litany, his creed, and his very purpose.

"Can we start yet?" Korra asked, obviously no longer in a meditative mood.

Kohun merely smiled, his eyes still closed. "I didn't tell you to exhale."

He chuckled as he heard an annoyed sigh from Korra. She stood there, holding her breath this time and patiently awaiting his instruction.

"Alright, breathe out."

Now is when it got exciting. Kohun rolled his shoulders back and opened his eyes, looking over at Korra who in turn looked back at him, a feeling of electric anticipation in the air. Even Naga, who had been patiently sitting with her head on her paws, wagged her tail and perked her ears.

"Basic to advanced technique progression." He told her. "On me. And remember to focus."

He could tell how impatient his student was by how jumpy she was getting. "Yeah, yeah."

Kohun took one last breath, then lunged forward and punched at the air. Korra followed the motion only moments after he performed it, except when she did it a small fireball shot out from her hands.

Without his bending, Kohun's movements were nothing more than some strange morning ritual; like a boxer running through motions. But even though fire did not result from his movement, Korra had always seen the force behind his kicks and punches. He moved with purpose, smooth and precise, feeling the flow of energy that both was and wasn't there. Anyone could mistake him for a master firebender up until that last millisecond of a motion, when not even a puff of smoke came of his efforts. He still felt it though, because in that same last millisecond, he felt the energy and force travel through him and screech to a halt just before it became a flame. It was maddening, the sensation of the chi within trying to break free from its prison within his body, desperate to manifest itself into the world as a hungry fire.

Korra had learned to follow what he did over the years. Whenever she copied him and listened to his instructions on feeling the energy within herself she felt power and control over the element.

"Firebending comes from where?" Kohun asked her, sending a hard kick forward.

Korra followed his motion immediately, sending a flame from her foot. "The gut." She answered, slipping into the routine of movements and questions.

"What is fire?" Kohun continued with the questions, making a small swipe at the air with his hand. Part of his training had always been constant memorization of "reasons why". He had always made sure that Korra understood the mindset behind his techniques.

"Fire is warmth." Korra answered as she mimicked his arm, sending an arc of fire flying out in front of her. "It's light and life."

Kohun pulled his arms back and then shot them forward. "What makes a master firebender?"

His student shot a continuous stream of flame from her hands, building the intensity until it was practically a blowtorch. "The ability to maintain a constant attack." She answered him, never stopping her jet of fire as she spoke.

"Who were the…" Kohun paused as he leaped in the air, charging his imaginary attack and flinging his arms out in a wide arc as he landed. "First firebenders?" He finished his question with a glance at Korra. A glance that told her that she had better know the answer with all the stories he told her.

"Dragons!" Korra said excitedly as she landed and sent a great and violent blade of flame out before her, melting the snow almost thirty feet ahead of where she stood.

Her uncle decided to test her newest move, a smirk on his face. "And dragons are known for…?" He straightened his body and loudly sucked in a deep breath. He paused, his cheeks filled with air and his chest puffed out as his amber eyes begged for her to hurry up with the answer.

Korra grinned, knowing what he was leading up to. Building up all of her willpower and concentration, she drew one last breath in, hesitating for a moment before letting it out. To be honest, even if she was the Avatar, the sight of the little ten-year-old girl breathing out such a vicious tongue of flame would make most people cringe.

Kohun accepted her answer happily, letting out his held breath in a roar. He clawed his fingers and reared up like the winged lizards of old. Korra laughed at him as he pretended he was a dragon. After a few moments of exaggerated theatrics, he stood up straight and adjusted his fur-lined parka, coughing into his hands at his own awkwardness.

"Your Breath of Fire could use a little more work, to be honest." He noted.

The look of frustration on Korra's face was understandable. Being the Avatar, she was naturally skilled in all bending forms since she was even born. Almost any technique that her teachers taught her was immediately mastered. When something didn't come easy to her, she was prone to become headstrong. She would forget her teachings and tackle the problem in her own manner without regard to what she had been taught. Needless to say, this tended to only create more problems.

"You want to tell me what you did wrong?" Kohun said, sitting down in a meditative position and patting the ground in front of him.

Korra plopped down, facing her teacher as she braced her elbows on her knees. "I forced it?"

"You forced it." Her uncle snapped his fingers and made a humorous grimace of disappointment. "Remember Kor. The Breath of Fire is just like all of your other techniques. Its name even tells you that you control it..."

"With the breath." She finished for him. "I know, Sifu. I just feel like it needs that extra push."

Kohun gave her a stern look. He had learned to be patient, being a general and a teacher had taught him that, but Kohun still felt quite vexed when he had to repeat a lesson. "And when you push your breath out the fire is weaker and doesn't last as long." He had told her this dozens of times since they began learning the form. "The flame is its own life. Trust it to do the work for you. Let the breath come from deep in your lungs and not your throat. It will last longer and burn hotter."

"This sounds like those singing lessons Mom made me take." Korra mused.

"It's actually very much like that." Kohun smirked at the memory of the failed singing lessons, the scar on his cheek receding to the force of his smile. Few people knew the General's softer side, but those who did found it intoxicating. "Why do you think firebenders are the best singers in the world?"

"Please don't, Nanuk." Korra begged, not wanting to listen to him make a sad attempt at melodic sound.

Kohun shrugged in agreement with her protests. "Okay, okay." He then made a slight expression of inquiry at her use of his old nickname. Nanuk was the ancient Water Tribe word for bear. Much like the Fire Nation naming crowning its national heroes as Dragons, the Water Tribes honored brave and courageous generals with the title of Nanuk. The Southern Fire Colonies, with their curious mix of Southern Water Tribe and Fire Nation cultures, followed the custom. Kohun received the title both as a mix of his military achievements and his own physique, which was tall and muscled.

"And just who told you that little moniker?" Kohun asked.

Korra suddenly cursed under her breath as she remembered that Kohun didn't like other people talking about his involvement in the rebellion all those years ago. Only he knew exactly what he had done, everyone else was just repeating rumors.

"Dad sort of…" She began, hesitant to blame her father who had only told her the stories because she begged him to.

Kohun waved his hand dismissively, laughing a bit. "It's fine. You were bound to find out one of these days." Just as Katara was bound to find out that he was still running the Equalists, and then she would probably kick him out of the compound. A pang of guilt ran through him as he realized what that would mean. He would be abandoning Korra and Senna and Tonraq, the only family that he still had, all over again.

"Dad said…" Korra started up, permeating the silence. "He said that you hurt a lot of people with your firebending." She looked up at him with those eyes that he couldn't lie to: Her mother's eyes and her father's determined curiosity. "He even said that you killed a few. That's why my last life took your bending away."

Kohun sat, breathing a heavy sigh of self-disappointment. "I used to fuel everything I had with anger and hate." He tried his best to avoid his niece's gaze, knowing that she had to hear this story but still ashamed that he must tell it. "I wanted to go to war. I was angry that my people couldn't be free. I was so mad that…" He sighed, remembering Senna's pained expression as she clung to her burned leg. He hadn't meant to, he had been angry and she surprised him. She had just come to comfort him and all he did after the accident was run away and join the rebellion, not even saying goodbye to his friends. "I even hurt someone I loved without thinking."

He looked up for a moment, knowing just from Korra's expression that she knew what he was talking about. "Dad told me."

"The point of the story is that you need purpose. Not hate, not anger." Kohun finally made eye contact with her. "Fire is life, Korra. Therefore the meaning of firebending is the meaning of life. You need to find passion, warmth, gentleness, with just a small hint of dangerous unpredictability." He smiled at the last quality and so did she. "Only then can you truly master the element…and yourself."

The ten-year-old Avatar couldn't help but smile. Even without his bending, even after the tragedy of his wife and child, he still had resolve and persistence. "How did you find your purpose, Uncle Kohun?"

"What? Warmth, gentleness, and all that?" He spoke quickly, abbreviating his list into a quick murmur of indiscernible chatter.

Korra nodded. Kohun smiled.

"Well, when I felt that I had lost all purpose in my life..." He paused momentarily in a silent prayer for the departed. He then looked up into her eyes, remembering how even after he was gone, Aang had been there for his old friend when he needed it. "My purpose found me."

They both thought back to that night out in front of her home, when they first met. Korra grinned as he ruffled her hair. "So…I don't have to try to find purpose." She said hopefully, not wanting to have to meditate. "It'll just find me."

Kohun chuckled and stood up, brushing the snow off of his legs. "No. You'll actually have to try on this one." She frowned when he emphasized "to try". "If you get that down," Kohun gave her an encouraging smile. "One of these days I'll teach you lightning."

Korra jumped up in excitement. "You promise!"

The knowing man just smiled, completely unaware of Master Katara approaching from behind him. "I promise."

"Excuse me, Korra." Katara spoke in her motherly tone of understanding. "Would you mind leaving me alone with Sifu Kohun. We need to talk."

Kohun turned around, a shock of terror running down his spine as he saw the papers in her hand. His day of reckoning had come. She had always been suspicious that he would not keep his word and continue to collaborate with the Equalists, but now she had proof.

Korra ran off with Naga in hot pursuit. The two watched, fake smiles masking there true emotions until the unknowing Avatar was out of sight. Once she was gone, Kohun faced Katara with a look of complete regret and sorrow. Before he could speak, Katara's words cut through him like knives.

"Ever since my husband died, your obsession has done nothing but hurt the people that you love. Now I was content to let you run out on your poor wife and daughter and ruin your life. But you betrayed Aang." Her accusation flew like an arrow, embedding itself deep within his chest. "If this Equalism movement means so much to you, then you can go and abandon your loved ones again. You WILL leave here. You won't say goodbye. You won't leave a note. I'm not going to let you hurt Aang again." The old master's eyes gave away her anger at his betrayal. "And I'm not going to let you hurt Korra."

Kohun just stood there, dumbfounded. He wanted to explain the severity of the situation. How there were groups within his organization that wanted to kill people. They didn't want to empower non-benders. They wanted to commit genocide on benders. The Equalist Party, his creation with a beautiful idea, was quickly decaying into something that he could not control. But he couldn't explain it, because he knew that she was right. He couldn't stop the problem from where he was. It would have to come to him eventually, and the people that he cared about.

"Katara, I…" He quickly choked on his words and his body tensed up. Kohun tried to move, to blink, anything. He didn't feel any pain, but when he looked into Katara's eyes, he could tell that her will carried the power to kill him that very instant. Terror gripped him as he looked at her, the anticipation of the pain constantly hovered over him, stories of bloodbenders racing through his mind. Katara didn't need to hurt him, her aura alone told him that if he even thought about making excuses he would meet a terrible end.

She leaned forward, bloodbending him down to her level so that her eyes looked straight into his. When she spoke, her voice carried a level of restrained anger that he had never thought she was capable of.

"Get…out!"

* * *

A thumb rested on his chest and another on his forehead. Kohun had followed Korra's example and closed his eyes, taking a breath in as he felt the energy within himself stir at the Avatar's command.

In a brilliant flash of power and spiritual vitality Kohun awaited the reopening of his long-closed chakras. He waited…and waited…and waited. When Korra stepped back, Kohun opened his eyes and gave her a curious glance.

"That's it?" He asked her, feeling no different. A sense of worry and disappointment began to gnaw at him.

Korra held up her hand with an incredible confidence and anticipation in her eyes, as if the simple waving of her hand was enough to calm his anxiety. "It doesn't hit you at first. Just wait a second."

The two stood out in the courtyard there in the pre-dawn, the sky beginning to light up as the sun teasingly began to peek out over the horizon. Kohun flexed his fingers and rolled his neck, hesitantly trusting his old student.

It started slowly, a small warmth that was barely even a flicker of energy manifesting deep in his chest. Like a river that had been blocked by a dam for countless years, it started with small cracks of force seeping through the locked passageway. Kohun felt the flicker grow into a tingle and begin to branch outwards, crawling throughout his body. He took a deep breath in, almost choking on the immense power that he felt as the air fueled the years of withheld fire building up inside of him. The tingling quickly became more intense as the sun crested out its golden rays over Yue Bay. The flood of fire was quickly overtaking the dam that blocked his chakras, imbuing him with a sense of relief as well as power. His blood felt like it was boiling as his mind and body felt a strength that he had not experienced in years. Kohun turned to face the sun as it ascended into the sky.

He took a step forward, his fist flying out in front of him. The force behind his motion was like it always was. It could have been a dud just as much as it could have been a flame. Korra, despite her confidence in her abilities to restore bending, held her breath as she waited for that last millisecond that would be the judge.

And in that last millisecond, the dam broke.

A torrent of flame erupted forth, carrying with it the pent up energy of twenty-one years. Kohun let forth a series of attacking combinations, sending against his imaginary opponent a brutal onslaught of fire in a rush of kicks, punches, and jabs. Korra smiled as she realized it was the exact same combinations that he had run through with her so many times, except this time it was done with all of the power and glory that it deserved.

Kohun suddenly stopped, planting his feet violently on the ground and taking a long breath. He stared out over the bay, remembering his breath as he opened his mouth. He let out a victorious cry, augmented by a vicious tongue of flame that would have made a dragon shudder with envy and fear.

Finally pausing to catch his breath, Kohun turned to Korra and grinned. He let out a cough of smoke, clearing his mouth of a slightly burnt flavor. "Sorry. I'm a little rusty."

They both laughed, not even noticing Tenzin's disgruntled shouting at being woken up by the horrible noise in the distance.

"So." Korra looked at Kohun, now even more of a hero to her than before. "What shall we start with, Nanuk?" She bowed respectfully to her firebending teacher.

Kohun felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth. He walked over and put his arm around Korra's shoulders, scratching his beard in contemplation as they walked back inside. "Breakfast first. Then…hmmm…"

He held out his free hand in front of them, rotating his wrist in a circle a few times and concentrating. After a moment or two, light blue bolts of lightning danced in between his fingers, playfully coursing around his hand. "I think I made a promise a while back. Didn't I?"


	7. Chapter 7: Rising Dark

Korra looked up at her teacher, flat on her back and her head swimming.

"Six?" She replied to his question, barely audible over the throbbing in her skull.

Kohun looked down at the two fingers he was holding up in front of her face and shrugged. "Close enough." He muttered, helping her to her feet. "Sorry about that. I thought you would be able to block it." The torrent of fire that he had sent at her had thrown her back harder than he had intended.

Korra stood uneasily, taking a moment to catch her balance. "I should have been able to." She said as her vision started to un-blur. The disappointment in her voice was obvious. Sure it was only the second day of practice, but she was just so disheartened by how far back she'd gone. Only about two months ago she had been a master firebender, one of the best. Now she could barely put up a decent fight for more than two or three minutes.

Her mentor just sighed at her defeatist attitude, putting an arm around her shoulder. That confidence that she had possessed as a child seemed to have been ripped from her. Usually going out into the world was an empowering experience, but in Korra's case she had only become weaker.

Kohun turned so that they stood face to face. "You do know what it is that you're doing wrong?" The last two days had been hard on both of them, from miserable failed lightning generation attempts to sparring matches that were far too one-sided on Kohun's end.

She shrugged, not even sure that she knew the answer. "I don't feel it. What can I say?" A hint of frustration was edging its way into her tone. "Whenever I do something I'm nervous and apprehensive and…" Kohun cut her off with a wave of his hand, his brow furrowing slightly as he closed his eyes.

"Breath, Korra." He said calmly. "That's for starters. Let me just think for a moment."

It made no sense. Her waterbending hadn't suffered much at all. She was practicing that on her own. Her earthbending had taken a dive, but it was still fairly impressive. The earth still obeyed her commands, but she wasn't as stubborn and forceful, which made it harder for her to bend the element. Chief Beifong and Bolin helped her every afternoon with it and that seemed to make her progress improve.

Tenzin was guiding her along through her airbending lessons daily. The children's encouragement seemed to help her along with her lessons. Firebending seemed to be blocked for her somehow. And then Kohun came upon a pattern.

"Stay here, Korra. I'll be right back." He said as he hastily ran off towards the men's dormitory. "Just going to get some friendly encouragement."

Korra just stood there, making little balls of fire in her hand and keeping them from going out. It was an exercise that she had always found comfort and meditation in. It allowed her to think, helped her to cadence her breath to the heartbeat of the flame.

After a few minutes Kohun came back, a large grin on his face as he dragged a still-sleepy Mako behind him. He swung Mako forward by his scarf, the young firebender stumbling into the large circular courtyaed that they used as a sparring arena.

"Good morning, Sunshine." Mako grumbled half-heartedly, looking up at Korra.

"Hey." She said back with a slight bit of confusion. "What's got you up this early?"

Mako could only shrug. "I honestly don't know." He pointed behind him with his thumb, referring to the General. "He just woke me up and told me to get dressed and come with him."

Kohun's voice cut through the air in a mixture of confidence and self-praise. "I came here because I realized that Korra's motivation comes from her peers." He spoke as if he had just made some great discovery. "Therefore I have made the decision that from now on, you will be her sparring partner every morning."

Mako let out a sigh of despair that Kohun couldn't help but smile at. "I'd be in my stance right now if I were you." He cautioned the young man looking back at him.

Korra was already prepared, awaiting the signal to start. "This'll be fun." A spark lit up in her eyes. It wasn't business anymore. It was pleasure.

Kohun patted himself on the back as he saw Korra's old impetuousness return to her. All that she was lacking was purpose, passion. Her firebending block was a result of that, not some bloodbening trick that Amon pulled on her months ago. All she needed was fuel for the flames. She wasn't about to let Mako prove himself better than her and Kohun could tell that Mako was just the same. "What's more passionate than a lover's quarrel?" He thought aloud.

"WHAT?!" Mako and Korra asked in unison, casting their gazes towards him.

Kohun, feeling like an moose-deer in the headlights, quickly covered up his mistake. "I said, GO!"

The two immediately forgot about what he may have said as they both began shooting fireballs at one another. Their flames met halfway in between them, creating a raging inferno that they circled around as they tried to outmaneuver one another.

A dance was the only word to describe their sparring. Dodging, weaving, feints, and counterstrikes all melded into one graceful sequence of unrestrained fury. It was the dance of firebenders. They knew each other's fighting styles and each other's rhythm. As a result their movements, although carrying the intent of defeating their opponent, were in perfect sync with that of their adversaries.

Kohun watched as the two fought, making mental notes in his head. No detail escaped his gaze, no small slip up going unnoticed. It was advantageous to have a photographic memory and an almost superhuman attention to detail. It made him perfectly suited to be a combative teacher. He would notice things that would otherwise go without recognition. It was because of these skill that he was able to catch sight of a quick attack from Mako that shouldn't have even been possible.

It was that short move that caught Korra off guard and ended the three minute match with a victory for Mako.

"Excellent work." Kohun said reassuringly to his student, still slightly taken aback from what he had seen a few moments ago.

Korra merely looked over at him with a curious glance. She knew that sarcasm wasn't his style. "What are you talking about? I lost."

Kohun chuckled, ever patient with his niece. "You still fought better than you have in the last three days." He walked over to the two, finding amusement in the glances that Mako and Korra exchanged in his victory. "I'm afraid that you'll have to be patient." He lectured the water tribe girl. "It's not going to come back to you all at once. To be quite honest, you haven't practiced this hard in a while and you're a bit out of shape."

Mako held back a small grin, which quickly turned into a stone-faced stare as his girlfriend glared at him. Then it was Mako's turn to be chewed out and critiqued.

"Do not be under the impression that you're so perfect yourself." The General chided in his teaching manner. "You fight too much like a pro-bender. You only attack head on. If Korra wasn't so out of practice she would have remembered that attacking you from that side is far more advantageous."

Mako had a moment of realization. "I was wondering why she kept going in circles."

General Kohun merely ignored the younger firebender, continuing his evaluations. "The only reason that you won so fast was that you were able to catch her off guard with a side swipe." He replayed the image in his head just to be sure his eyes had not deceived him. "I've changed my mind about you sparring with Korra every morning."

Korra and Mako both looked at him, confused. Kohun had said himself that Mako training with her was helping her progress immensely. Before they could protest, the General explained himself.

"I want to train you in a few techniques that I think you could master as well as having you spar in the morning."

The two teenagers looked at each other in confusion. "Why exactly?" Mako asked.

"When you made that swing," Kohun began, making the motion with his arm. "The fire didn't come from your hand. It appeared in the air several feet away from you."

What's that mean?"

The General just shrugged. "It means that you very well could be a very unique kind of firebender. You could be a…"

"Morning everyone!" Bolin's happy voice interrupted Kohun's foreboding tone.

The teacher and his two students looked over towards the dining pavilion, where Bolin was coming from. The happy earthbender, filled with all of the breakfast that he could feed himself, strutted towards his friends with a carefree salute to the General, his face as bright as the sun rising behind him. "Who's ready for the first pro-bending match of the pre-season?"

Korra and Mako immediately made their own subtle celebrations as they recalled that today was the grand reopening of the pro-bending stadium for the pre-season tournament. The entire day was going to be nothing but slugfest after slugfest as thirty-two teams fought to qualify for the place as the season favorite. The three had been waiting for weeks for this day to come and it was finally here.

Bolin remembered himself only a bit too late, another defining characteristic of the happy-go-lucky earthbender. "Sorry. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" He looked at the General with a small cringe in his shoulders.

The tall, imposing man gave a pacifying smile to Bolin. "Oh no, it's fine. You kids have fun." Kohun couldn't help but chuckle. "I assume that Tenzin knows that you'll be skipping his lessons this afternoon." He gave Korra the look that he always gave her when she ought to do something that they both knew she wasn't going to do.

The Avatar crossed her arms in a momentary set back, looking up at her mentor. "I, uh, was sort of hoping that you might keep him busy all day." She shrugged and smiled, always knowing that he was on her side.

Kohun rolled his eyes as the three members of the new Team Avatar already began heading for the docks. "One of these days I might just let you get in trouble." He shouted good-naturedly back at her as she ran along with Mako and Bolin.

Kohun placed his hands in the pockets of his trench coat and began strolling around Air Temple Island, the morning sun filling him with an invigorating energy as a soft breeze scattered leaves across his path. He longed to go into the city, for he still had pressing unfinished business there, but he was under house arrest until his paperwork cleared. In exchange for helping the Avatar and the police in the fight against the remaining Equalists, Kohun was being granted an official pardon for his previous criminal status. Until then he was still a wanted man, though. He felt guilty for thinking about the business that he had to conduct in town, but he had promised to do it years ago and he knew that it had to be done. It filled him with pain just to think about it, what demons he must face in the days to come. He was all too familiar with betrayal.

His thoughts drifted away from the city and back to the current matter at hand: Covering for Korra and her friends. Kohun chuckled a little just at the thought of it. She had stuck him with this duty when she was a child, always charging him with the task of making sure her parents weren't aware of her antics.

Even after a seven year absence, Kohun was already back to keeping the hot-headed Avatar out of trouble. Lucky for him Tenzin was busy enough these days rebuilding the Republic City Council and wouldn't be back on the island until the afternoon. And when he did get back he would be busy working on Kohun's amnesty paperwork. All the General really needed to do was just make sure that Tenzin had a little something extra to keep his mind off of airbending lessons.

With a powerful gust of wind and a quick flash of orange and yellow, his answer tackled him. It was in vain, however, seeing as the weight difference between Meelo and Kohun was too great for the young airbender to even cause Kohun to break his stride.

The playful boy shrugged off his defeat, quickly jumping back to his feet and following behind the strong tower of a man that was the General. "How goes it to you, Big Man?" Meelo asked Kohun, completely unafraid of him.

Kohun's eyes widened as an answer finally occurred to him. He looked down at the young boy that was walking beside him. "Meelo," He began with a smile. "Would you mind helping me pull a prank on your father?"

* * *

There was a tinge of despair in the silence of the dimly lit meeting chamber. The Equalists had retreated to the sewers and deeper tunnel system in the past few weeks. Ever since Amon's death, any form of organization and leadership within their ranks had disintegrated. They operated in small cells completely cut off and independent from one another. Without their leadership and their organization they were quickly dying out. Yet a shred of hope still remained as the police closed in. A message had come through.

A man from each remaining Equalist cell sat at the large wooden table in the subterranean room, their faces holding a grim anticipation. Even in the faint, flickering light of the partially blown-out fixtures the hopelessness and exhaustion was palpably etched into every man's face.

"Good evening, gentlemen." A smooth, lilting voice pierced the silence as the host entered. "I'm glad that you all were able to answer my summons."

Everyone turned to observe the entrance of a particularly unassuming-looking individual. The thinly built man slicked his black hair back away from his forehead, his hand cupping his jaw and moving it slightly as if he had just bitten down on his tongue. His ragged gray eyes darted about the room with a hungry and challenging stare, yet his own posture and body language suggested a calm and commanding attitude.

The other men in the room remained silent, not sure of exactly how to proceed as they recognized one of Amon's darker and more secretive henchmen. Their host seemed to forget about them for a moment as he sat down, running his thumb and index finger against his thin moustache and smoothing it back against his upper lip. His sunken cheeks formed shadows on his otherwise hawkish face. His eyes then darted back up again, the poor lighting making them seem like little spotlights perched atop his highly-set cheekbones.

"Kaiju? It was you who sent the message?" A voice finally spoke up.

Everyone's eyes turned to a man sitting on the other end of the large table, including the hungry eyes of the host. Kaiju smiled, the grin carrying with it all the charm of a snake poised to strike.

"Very good, my dear Zencho." Kaiju began, his tone was strongly sarcastic but fleeting. Every word was being expelled only as a formality. The man obviously carried little patience for his guest's stupid questions. "I'm glad to see that your skills of observation are still impeccable."

Zencho stood, waving his hands up before him. "No. I will not work with you. I would rather die than work with a snake like you!"

"As you please." Kaiju muttered. A quick glance towards one of his guards was enough of an instruction, as the room was momentarily filled with the gut-wrenching sound of Zencho's neck snapping.

As the body slumped to the floor, the other men in the room quickly turned their terrified gazes back to Kaiju. Their host rested his hands on the table in front of him, pursing his lips and tensing his round jaw as if the situation was nothing more than a slight awkwardness. "I always did find his manners deplorable."

Another Equalist dared to speak, his voice carrying a respect born of obligation and fear rather than admiration. "Why…" He paused as his voice cracked. "Why did you call us here?"

Kaiju's dead gaze turned towards the man who spoke. "It's not obvious?" He asked rhetorically. "In the last two months you've all been hunted like a bunch of pigeon-lizards! You were going to win!" He spoke with a belittling tone, as if he was lecturing children who couldn't comprehend 2+2=4.

"You were the most powerful people in this city. The United Fleet was gone! The Council was gone! The Avatar was gone! It's almost as if Amon was the only thing that held you together!" Kaiju's hand moved as he spoke, emphasizing points and stressing his annoyance and anger. "How pathetic is it that once he's gone all of the progress that you made is just…vaporized?!"He grasped at the air with his hands, as if trying to catch a ghost in his grip.

No one else dared speak, the body lying on the cold stone floor a grim reminder of what a few loose words could do to them. Kaiju sat there with an exasperated look on his face for a few moments before another snake-like grin formed on his hawkish face.

"Of course, now that organization and self-restraint are gone we can finally prioritize." The thin man's voice adopted a new tone, his sudden change in attitude almost as disturbing as the murderous glint in his eyes. "When we had all those men behind us all Amon cared about was conquering Republic City and building armies. Meanwhile, in reality, it turned out that we cannot face the benders out in the open and he was revealed to be a fraud. Thankfully we have survived long enough to come to the realization that now our job is so much simpler than taking over a city." Kaiju's voice sliced through the air with the confidence of a businessman.

"We are now a small, well-trained strike force that can and will handle only one target at a time. Amon's mistake was that he thought that success lie in converting the benders, but since then it has only been proven that no one can touch the benders without first removing that one big obstacle that lies in the way."

"Enough!" A grizzled and exasperated man's grunt acted as a wall against Kaiju's seemingly endless waste of words. "What is your plan?"

Kaiju's murderous stare remained unfocused, as if he was daydreaming about some beautiful scene. "Gentlemen," he said as if he were indeed dreaming. "We are going to murder the Avatar."

The speaker from before scoffed. "How can we possibly do that?"

Kaiju gave one last grin, more menacing than all the other's combined. "We have an old friend who recently arrived in town and has agreed to help us. And trust me when I say that he's the perfect man for the job."


	8. Chapter 8: Hopes and Regrets

A cold breeze wafted through the air, sending a shiver down Kohun's spine as he stepped out of the Satomobile and headed out towards the graveyard. It was his first day in Republic City since his pardoning of crimes, and he had made a point to come to this mournful location first.

He sighed in apprehension, the General appearing to be unsure of himself for once in his life. He stood at the gates of the cemetery for a few minutes before finally mustering the courage to pass through them. He walked slowly, looking over the graves as he searched for a certain one in particular, cradling a small box under his arm.

It seemed like an eternity, but eventually he found the grave marker that he was searching for.

_Kyatiah_

_127 ASC - 153 ASC_

_Died abroad, in search of her love._

The footnote on the tombstone cut away at his guilty conscience like a rusted blade. It only hurt him more as he saw the much smaller, unmarked gravestone that sat next to the larger one so close that it resembled a child holding near to its mother. He stood in front of the stones so long that he lost all track of time. All that existed was him, the graves, and the chilly air holding a silent pause that was deafening to Kohun's grieving soul.

Finally collecting himself after a lengthy pause, he knelt down and opened the box that he had brought with him. He pulled out a small bowl of incense and lit it with a spark from his finger, placing the small basin down in between the two gravestones. He pulled his hat from his head, plucking one of the two photos he kept out of the lining. It was a picture of a beautiful Water Tribe woman with flowing hair and a smile that held more warmth than a fire in winter. Kohun smiled down at the small photograph and set it down in front of the incense.

"Hey." He finally spoke, his voice a little louder than a whisper. "I'm sorry I haven't gotten to come visit you sooner. I've been…caught up, so to speak." He remembered how he had tried to come there seven years earlier. By coincidence the same day had been chosen by Amon as the day that the Equalists would change their leaders. Kohun had never even arrived at the cemetery before being stopped by his betrayers and handed over to the police.

He looked down at the ground, a little unsure of exactly what to say. "Senna told me you'd be here." He sighed, with more guilt than ever. "She told me how you followed me to Republic City seventeen years ago and looked for me."

He stopped and looked down at the ground, the great weight on his very soul increasing with every remembered pain. "You two were in the same neighborhood when you…" He stopped again, his throat closing around the words as if he was cursed to never utter them. "You two were the only thing I did right in this world and I abandoned you for my nightmare." The Equalist Party had once been his dream and his paradise, but it had turned into a monster that stole everything from him. The worst part was that he gladly gave everything for it.

He took a deep breath, letting it out in a sigh of exhaustion. He had work to do and his rest was not yet at hand, but when he looked down at the tombstones of his wife and infant daughter he felt the great temptation to just…time-out. He let out a few coughs as the chill went through the air once again, his chest heaving.

When he regained his breath, he looked back to the picture on the ground. "I'm sorry Kiah. I'm sorry for being the stupid man that I am." He turned to the smaller stone for a moment, his eyes stinging a little. He tried to imagine the face of Kira, the daughter that he had never even had the chance to see grow up. Her face was both fuzzy in his mind and at the same time, perfectly clear-cut. He knew who she was, who she would have been. And it filled Kohun with the deepest sorrow any man could know.

"I'm sorry." He said to the wind. "…for everything." He kept trying to find a way to describe his regret, but the words did not exist in any human tongue. All that he could hope for was that somehow, wherever she was, she could hear him and understand what he felt in his soul.

"I've made mistakes, my love, many mistakes. And I'm sorry for them all. I'm going to set things right, though. I just hope that you can forgive me for what I've done….and what I'm about to do."

The incense had burned down almost all the way, small tendrils of smoke being whipped about by the chilling breeze. Kohun took the photograph in his hand, looking her soft gaze once more before tucking it back into its place in the lining of his old hat. Another soft gust of wind caressed the side of his face, but this breeze was warm and compassionate, not cold and mourning. It reminded him of her hand on his cheek, reassuring him of the man of honor that he had once been, that he could still be. He finally knew that she forgave him for everything that he had done.

And everything he was planning to do.

* * *

The setting sun was always a sight to behold in Republic City. Kohun had always enjoyed watching it. Korra found him sitting in the gazebo on Air Temple Island watching the sunset when she offered to show him around town. Much to her amusement, her uncle knew of more places around the city than she did. As dinnertime drew near, the two decided to get a dose of home and headed for Narook's, which they had discovered to be a mutual favorite location. To Korra's delight, Mako and Bolin apparently had the same idea, already half way through their meals when Naga came trotting up to the door of the restaurant.

"What's with the hot flakes?" Bolin asked the General after the two new table members had received their orders.

Kohun looked down at his noodles, which he had practically smothered in spicy toppings. "Water Tribe noodles are great," he said, stirring the noodles with his chopsticks. "But there's not enough kick in them."

Mako pushed his noodles around in the bowl, his stone-faced expression revealing a slight hesitance. "Yeah, I never much liked Water Tribe noodles."

"Then why did you order them?" Korra asked, her cheeks stuffed with her homeland's food.

"'Cause you like them." Mako smiled, looking across the table at his girlfriend.

Korra smiled her mouth still full. "Awww."

Kohun and Bolin, also known as the Third and Fourth Wheel, exchanged slightly awkward glances, unsure whether or not to remark on the gag-worthy "cutesiness" of the other two. Kohun couldn't keep himself from a poorly suppressed chuckle as Mako and Korra rubbed their noses together. Korra punched her uncle in the arm. He shot her a playful warning glance, telling her that he would repay that blow in practice tomorrow.

"So, Bolin." Kohun began, momentarily ceasing his teasing of Korra. "I hear you're training to become a police officer."

Bolin looked up from his noodles, an expression of guilt appearing just for a moment on his face. "Uh, yeah. I mean…"

"Training?" Korra interrupted Bolin. "He's practically already the best there is."

Mako nodded in agreement, putting an arm around his little brother. "Definitely. Speaking of which, I have some news. I…"

"I flunked out!" Bolin shouted, cutting off the excited praise of his friends.

A momentary silence filled their table, not even the ambience of the restaurant disturbing what seemed to be a complete absence of sound. "What?"

Bolin looked into his bowl of noodles, as if he would find the courage hidden in his food. "I failed the written tests, okay. I didn't want to tell anybody, but I guess you had to find out eventually." Now that everyone knew, Bolin was actually already getting over it. It was an amazing quality of his. No matter what it was, Bolin rarely seemed to let a setback keep him down for very long.

Mako was the first to speak up. "I'm sorry, Bo."

"For what?" Bolin already seemed to have shrugged it off, his casual attitude returning with a renewed vigor of someone who didn't have to hide anything anymore. "You didn't do anything."

His brother played with his fingers a bit. "Actually, I did."

It was now everyone's turn to look at Mako with a curious glance.

Mako gave an awkward smile. "I sort of applied to the Police Academy a few days ago." It was originally meant to be a way for the brothers to work together as cops, so that he could look out for Bolin in his new job. Now that Bolin had flunked out though, it was going to look like his brother was just proving that he could do what Bolin couldn't.

Another awkward silence.

Bolin scooted his bowl of noodles away from him, folding his hands and nervously twiddling his thumbs. This setback didn't seem to be one that Bolin could easily shrug off for some reason. It seemed to strike a chord with him. "Oh…well. That's, uh, nice. Good for you, bro."

Bolin stood up after a moment, stretching a bit and walking towards the exit of Narook's. "I left Pabu running around outside." He said, explaining himself. "I'm gonna go find him."

Mako merely sat there and gave a nod of acknowledgement to his brother. It nagged in the back of his mind that he had somehow hurt Bolin, but since he didn't have the slightest notion of how to handle it, he just ignored it. Bolin could get over anything, he'd be fine.

Korra got up and followed Bolin. "I'll go help him." Before Mako could get up to follow her, she was already gone.

The General, who had just sat there watching the entire uncomfortable event, now sat alone at the table with Mako.

"So…" Mako tried to look for a conversational topic, not wanting to produce a THIRD awkward pause. "What exactly will you be teaching me? You know, since I'm your student as of yesterday."

Kohun paused a moment to finish chewing his noodles, as well as giving him a chance to think of exactly how to describe it. "Technically." Kohun began. "I'll teach you how to indirectly incinerate atmospheric air through ultra-compression of energy."

Mako sat there, not really sure what that meant. "I'm sorry…"

"Boom!" Kohun said, holding his hands apart and making it painfully simple to the other firebender what he meant. "I'll show you how to make things go boom."

An expression of understanding, and hesitant curiosity washed over Mako's face.

"And while we're on that subject." Kohun said. "From now on you will address me as General, Sir. Is that understood?"

Mako looked slightly taken aback. As a street rat he never really felt an obligation to respect authority. "You don't make Bolin or Korra do that?"

Kohun gave Mako a smirk. "I'm not training your brother. And in case you haven't noticed Korra does address me with respect whenever we practice."

"So I only have to do it during training?" Mako asked, looking for a loophole. He wouldn't even dare to entertain such a submissive act if this man wasn't in Korra's family.

The General gave Mako a glare that dared him to find out. Mako, rolling his eyes, conceited and turned back to his noodles. He grimaced at the pungent Water Tribe flavor, not sure how he was going to stomach the meal. The General slid the hot flakes across the table towards Mako.

Mako decided to trust the gesture, sprinkling the topping over his noodles and in the process making them far more palatable, even tasty.

"Thanks," He said, slightly annoyed as he remembered the proper response. "General, Sir."

* * *

Meanwhile, outside, Korra found Bolin sitting on the sidewalk making Pabu do circus tricks. Naga sat behind him, offering him something to lean back against.

"Hey." Korra said, sitting down next to Bolin. "It's not like Mako did that on purpose. Just bad timing."

Bolin rolled his eyes, sighing heavily. "I know." Pabu, sensing his master's distress, crawled up Bolin's arm and rested around his shoulders, the little fire ferret nuzzling Bolin's cheek. "It's not like Mako's going to fail like I did. He's just going to succeed where I couldn't."

Korra remembered that night in the South Pole several weeks ago, right after Bolin's birthday. He had come to see her, telling her that he was leaving with Chief Beifong and joining the police force. He hadn't even told his brother. Only Korra knew exactly why he left.

Bolin was trying to be his own person. All of his life, his brother had defined who he was. In introductions Bolin's name was almost always followed by the phrase: "Mako's little brother".

"Bolin," Korra said, her caring and reassuring tone always able to reach out to the earthbender. "Trust me. You're your own person. You don't have to prove it."

The earthbender looked over at Korra and green met blue as they exchanged glances. His face was sad, a rare emotion for Bolin to openly exhibit. Korra knew that she was one of the few people that Bolin could completely open up to and she made sure not to neglect that fact.

"Sadly," Bolin replied. "I do have to prove myself." He looked back at the street, watching as the Satomobiles drove past. "When we were growing up on the streets, Mako almost never let me come with him on jobs. I had to hide in a safe place while he went out and provided for both of us. If I was picked on, Mako drove the bullies away. Whenever we had food, he gave me more. All because I'm helpless dependent little Bo. Don't get me wrong, I love my brother and I know he was helping me, but that doesn't mean that I want everything handed to me and done for me."

He paused, only continuing when he saw that Korra was about to speak. "I've never had a chance to just do something on my own. I never even got the chance to fail on my own. Mako was always there, claiming success or failure as being completely him. I was always defined by what he did. I've never gotten to be a person on my own. Whenever I tried to do something on my own, he would step in and do it better than I could. To be honest, Korra, I got over what happened between you and me pretty fast. The main reason that it hurt so much was that, in the end, all it came down to was Mako just proving himself the better man…again." He sighed a little angrily, taking a moment to breathe.

"You don't seem to be over it." Korra replied.

"I said I was over what happened." Bolin clarified. "Not necessarily over you. Korra, you're a great girl and I can accept rejection. Really, I can. I'm content to just be your friend. Because that means that I can at least be around you. If you're happy being with someone else, I'm happy. The only real problem with my brother is that, well, like I said, just more proof that he's better than me."

Korra gave a small giggle. "Bo." She said, finally getting him to meet her gaze once more. "To be perfectly honest, Mako isn't as funny as you. I've never seen Mako eat as many bowls of noodles as you, or belch as loud for that matter. Naga practically worships the ground you walk on." The polar bear-dog's ears perked up as she heard her name being said. Bolin patted the animal's side and smiled, looking a little better. Korra made a point to mention that as well. "See, you're already feeling better. You're the rock, Bolin. Whenever anyone feels bad, you're there. You've always made me feel better and I know for a fact that Mako is actually jealous of your sense of humor. Just don't tell him I told you that."

Bolin shrugged, still not fully committing to her argument. "But when you compare…"

"Comparing you to your brother is like comparing Pabu and Naga." She stated with a bit of an amused grin. "You're both completely different, but still obviously great in your own ways. Trust me, Bo. You're just as much your own person as your brother is."

Bolin, finally starting to act like his old lighthearted self, leaned back onto Naga and put his hands behind his head. "I'll give it to you. You certainly know how to feed a man's ego. I still have to find a job, though."

Korra laughed and sat back against Naga and Bolin. "Trust me. Having a job is just as bad as not having one."

Although she couldn't see it, she knew that the carefree earthbender next to her was smiling. "You're just jealous because I have a choice in careers."

The two earthbenders shared a laugh, happy to have one another to lean on.


End file.
